Beefy Tomato Soup

If you need a quick and comforting dinner that you’re whole family will love this Beefy Tomato Soup is what you’re looking for!

Soup is a regular meal in our house. Any time of the year, hot or cold, winter or summer, we still make soup.

It’s an easy one-pot meal that you can make ahead of time and have waiting for you for dinner. Add a loaf of bread or crackers and dinner is done. Check out how easy this is to make!

The recipe for this Beefy Tomato Soup literally happened when Christie and I were emptying out the fridge – trying to avoid going to the store AGAIN and using what we had on hand in the house. Cooking all the time for the web site means that I’m usually at some sort of grocery store on any given day of the week. Produce has to be fresh, things are forgotten or you need extra ingredients for do-overs.

But this time we weren’t going.

Even when we say that when we “need” to go to the store our refrigerator and freezer are packed to the doors. We’re always grabbing the staples when we’re out shopping at the grocery store or at Walmart. I usually go up and down the aisles real quick and just grab whatever I think we need to keep on hand and pasta sauce is one of them.

My little guy’s favorite kind of soup is tomato soup with basil – add a half a loaf of buttered bread and he’ll sit there all night. But for me, I like some sort of meat in soup – whatever it is – chicken, turkey, sausage or beef.

So I grabbed some ground beef from the freezer, cream cheese from the fridge, onions, basil and garlic from the pantry and got to work.

Usually we use crushed tomatoes to make tomato soup but this time we were out. It’s one of those things you always think you have…until you don’t. So instead I grabbed a jar of pasta sauce from the shelf. This recipe is just one of the ways I like to use spaghetti sauce in recipes as a short cut and a boost of flavor.

I started the soup by browning the meat with the onions and garlic.

Add in a few seasonings and then chicken stock and a whole jar or Francesco Rinaldi Traditional No Salt Added pasta sauce. Using the No Salt variety was perfect for this soup so that I could control the salt and seasonings that were going into it. Francesco Rinaldi is already made with the best quality tomatoes and fresh herbs so it’s perfect for a quick and delicious meal!

Give it a stir and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in some cream cheese to make it nice and thick, fresh basil and then pour in the pasta.

Put the lid on a let the soup cook for another 10 minutes until the pasta is tender and dinner is served.

Fresh basil gives this Beefy Tomato Soup a really amazing flavor – but don’t run out to grab it if you don’t have it, just substitute dried basil instead.

Let me know if you have any other different ways to use your favorite pasta sauce in your recipes or you can follow and tag @FrancescoSauce on Twitter!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. But all opinions here are mine. #GetSaucy #CollectiveBias

My girls made this for dinner tonight since it’s such an easy recipe (I was just “helping)…and it was delicious! We all loved it! Tasted like lasagna in a soup. Thanks for the great recipe. I’ll be adding this to my “rock star” cookbook! ; )

This soup was so easy & Awesome! Thank you for this recipe. I used sausage (sweet) – 4 opened links & had some chicken stock & some veg stock…threw in with the rest & wow is this delish! I’d recommend whisking the cream cheese in some hot stock separately before adding as I had to fish out some of it & whisk it properly then add for body & flavor.

Hi Kim! It’s actually cream cheese in the soup, not sour cream. As far as a dairy free option, I’m not really sure…I know that you can use tofu (pureed) to thicken soups but it won’t give you the same flavor as the cream cheese. But I can tell you that this soup is going to be delicious all on it’s own, even without adding the cream cheese so I would just leave it out!

Looking forward to making this tonight! I just bought all of the ingredients. Question: should I only add 3/4 of a pound of the ground beef? I bought a package that was about 1.25 lb. will adding all of it be too much meat for the soup? just curious. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Debbie, you can freeze it for sure but the pasta might get a little soft when you reheat it. But we’ve done it and it’s still great. If you’re making it planning to freeze it then I’d freeze it without the pasta and just add it in when you reheat.

This was really good, and really simple. I threw in some chopped baby spinach at the end for color because I didn’t have basil. What a great idea to use pasta sauce….it really separates it from typical tomato-based soups.

Will using a different brand of sauce affect it much? I don’t have that brand on hand, in fact I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen it. I do have a few jars of assorted flavors of Prego. Spaghetti with ground venison was on the menu tonight, but I think dressing it up with the cream cheese will be an amazing way to change up an easy week night meal. Thanks!

Wow, what a great recipe! A tomato soup lover since my childhood, I abandoned canned tomato soups years ago, and have several “go-to” scratch recipes now that I use. Tried this one for the first time today, it came out just perfect. I really like the simplicity of this recipe, (simple, clear instructions, when to put the lid on, etc.) plus it has three of my favorite ingredients…(1) onions; (2) garlic; and (3) ground beef. Several of my beloved recipes use heavy cream as an ingredient, but I loved the way the cream cheese brought such a smooth, velvety creaminess to this soup. Next time, I’ll substitute Gourmet Seasoning Salt instead of regular salt, and Chive & Onion cream cheese instead of plain. But also, thank you for introducing me to Rinaldi’s Pasta Sauce…a hidden gem in my local Wal-mart that I never knew about. How many times have I thrown together whatever I had on hand to make a meal, but it was always a one-time never-to-be-duplicated-again recipe. Profuse thanks for writing this one down….it is definitely a keeper!

Thank you so much Wil! I love all the feedback. We do actually keep jarred sauce on hand, especially when it;s a good one! Great for lots of different quick ideas. And chive and onion cream cheese – awesome idea!

I made this over the weekend and it was a hit. I’m actually very anti-jar-sauce because I always make my own and was hesitant to grab something off the shelf. But I did and it was great in this recipe. I did have crushed tomatoes, so maybe I’ll try that next time. Any suggestions for a brand of crushed?

Thanks Kim! We make our own sauce all the time too, but after making this recipe I’ve found it is nice to have on hand. We have made this with crushed tomatoes also and it turns out great. I like to buy Redpack or Muir Glen because they have BPA free packaging but I think as long as you season it up the way you like any brand will do! Thanks for checking in!

Thanks Jen! I updated the recipe to say it serves 6. I’d day that it serves even 8, if you’re serving a small bowl and a salad or something on the side – but 6 for sure! I hope you try it, it’s one of our favorites!

I just made this soup and me and my husband LOVED it!! It was hearty and filling and had tons of flavor. I fixed sour dough grilled cheese sandwiches with it. It was perfect!! Thanks for the yummy recipe!

My grandmother handed a recipe like this down to me. We do it More like a goulash. Bell pepper, hamburger, onion , garlic, bay leaf, basil and top with Parmesan cheese! (Dairy free) It was one of my favorites growing up! I can’t wait to try with cream cheese! Unfortunately I have a dairy allergy in the house so grandmas way for him and I’ll mix a little cream cheese into some for me!! Thx

This soup was fantastic! My almost 2 year old daughter loved it! She kept saying… ‘soup, soup, soup…..mmmmmm’. I used a pasta sauce with basil in it, but still added fresh basil. I was also a bit short on cream cheese because I doubled the recipe so I added a little bit of heavy cream. Can’t wait for leftovers!

Hi Dan, This looks delicious and can’t wait to try it. I do have a quick question, You said if you do not have fresh basil you could you dry, I was just wandering how much you would use? I have everything but the fresh basil and I want to make this ASAP. Thanks so much and this looks so good. 🙂

Loved the soup! I made the dish tonight with ground turkey and neufchatel cream cheese to make it a smidge healthier. The cream cheese made the soup. While I liked the ground turkey, I do think ground beef adds a flavor that you just can’t get (even with all the seasoning in the world) from ground turkey.
I couldn’t find the pasta sauce you were talking about or a pasta sauce without salt on my Kroger shelf, so I picked up the Hunts 100% natural can of pasta sauce which worked really well.
I love all things onion, I ended up adding raw finely chopped onions to the top of the soup… I bet Parmesan would be great to add to the top as well (the kind you get from Trader Joes that’s shaved instead of grated).
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for all the feedback Audra! And I totally agree with you about the turkey, if you get a really lean ground beef (95%) it really isn’t that much different when it comes to being healthier so I tend to stick with a really lean beef. And you can use any pasta sauce that you like, I’ve even made this with a can of crushed tomatoes and a little more seasoning and it still turns out good! Glad you enjoyed it!

Made this last night and it was so easy and flavorful! My husband is already asking when I can make it again. He also asked if I could possibly add some parmesan cheese and mushrooms on the next go round! I’ll keep ya posted on how it comes out!

Kicked off soup season at our house with this recipe and it was a winner all around. Added carrots with onions and a little red pepper flake, but otherwise followed completely. Kids gobbled it up. Great recipe that’s so easy and yummy!!

OMG… Made this tonight. No onion or garlic used. Substituted with onion/garlic powder(husband won’t eat).
It was soooo good & the husband liked it(he’s a picky one). I did 1 pound ground beef & 2 cups pasta. I’m telling you, it is a must try. I’m adding to my regulars.

Heather, sorry if I miss you last night! I’d say that you can use whatever meat you have on hand – it really does’t matter for this soup! If it’s a fattier blend then you might just have to drain some of the grease of before you continue. Hope it worked out for you!

This was delicious!! I followed the recipe to a T and it came out amazing, everyone went back for seconds! I wasn’t able to find that exact brand of pasta sauce, so just used our favorite and we loved it. Thanks very much for this great recipe, will definitely become a regular in our house!

My daughter looked at the photo and said “Please let’s make it” well we did and, oh boy, it was sooo delicious, like lasagne soup 🙂 I used a jar of passata for the tomato base, small chunks of beef instead of mince. This will be a staple on cold winter days in Helsinki where we live. Thanks Dan

I’m excited to make this. I was searching the web for an easy, not too high brow soup to send on a church retreat for high schoolers. This nails it. Thanks for sharing. I know it will be a hit with this crowd.

This is the second time I’ve made this dish. It is so easy and my family devours it. I’m not a great cook (my husband does most of the cooking because he likes to cook and he’s amazing at it.) I can usually at least follow the recipe yet with this I managed to not follow the recipe (on accident) both times and it turned out great both times. First I didn’t cook the noodles in the dish, I cooked them first then added them to the dish because of this I didn’t cook it the last 10 min. (it was thinner, more like a soup). Tonight I forgot to ask hubby to grab fresh basil so we went with just the oregano. Tonight I cooked the noodles in the dish and it was thicker and I preffered it. Both time I also used a regular (not salt free) pasta sauce but left out the salt and pepper. This is a winner with my family! Thank you for sharing!
The only thing I would say to a comment I saw was that this is supposed to feed 6 adults; I don’t agree. Granted my kids eat a lot when I serve this dish but we had 4 adults and 2 small kids eat this and there was not enough. Grandma and Grandpa came back for seconds and were bummed to find the pan empty. I will be doubling this next time and I won’t miss including fresh basil.

I made this soup after discovering the recipe on Pinterest. YUM! My husband and I really enjoyed it. Little prep time, easy to make, and delicious. I also liked that it was a creamy soup but without much guilt (I used low fat cream cheese). Thanks!

I am so excited to try this. I think the addition of some diced zucchini would be really good in it too. Being only one person, I will probably freeze into individual servings. I always freeze before adding noodles.

This was a keeper! Absolutely delicious. I used the end of a box of mdium pasta shells and then decided to also use up the end of a box of no-boil lasagna noodles, breaking them up into large pieces (sort of like the lasagna soup recipes I’ve seen). Everyone loved it and I will definitely be making this again. I had been looking for something that wasn’t in my usual rotation of beef barley, chicken noodle, split pea, squash soups and this was not only different, but FABULOUS!